Jeff Spaner makes a down payment on
his first title with a win over Bill Alderman.

Ralph Gantt and Rich Irving trade
patrols in what may be one of the last Up Front tournaments
as attendance dwindles to new lows.

Eight Rounds of Glory ...

The regulars were heartened to see the numbers holding steady
this year after a decline for the past few years. A total
of seven former champions (nearly a third of the field) showed
up to once again make the challenge. Don Greenwood, the
game's developer, came down to even out the field at the start
and gave former champ Bruce Wigdor an opening round game - albeit
one that lasted about five minutes. Round 1 also featured
another champion's challenge with Bruce Young taking on John
Emery in The Infantry's Iron Fist. The game
was easily the most exciting of the tournament with the game
hinging on the last card and Bruce's Russians missing the win
by one number on the draw.

After this the tournament settled down in the Swiss portion.
Just when we thought we had a first with a French versus Italian
match in the second round, it was matched by yet another game
in the fourth. After the third round, all the 3-0's were
former champions with several other former winners such as Bill
Edwards at 2-1. The fourth round continued to whittle down
the field as several of those with no hope ventured off to other
tournaments. (We wish there were some way to alleviate
the problem but can't come up with one.) In the last Swiss
round, Last year's champ, Ed Kendrick, bested the man with the
most laurels, John Emery, in Scenario D. There were many
tight games with close results, especially for those needing
to get a win to finish 3-2 and have a chance at the elimination
rounds.

The field was then set for the playoffs. Former champs
Emery, Kendrick, Herbert Gratz, and Paul Wright had beaten the
obstacle course once again and were back for another try at wood
against contenders with experience but no titles, Kevin Emery,
William Kendrick, Wade Fowble, and Jeff Spaner. If a couple
of the names seem repetitious, it is because a couple of our
former champions are also bringing their sons and have evidently
taught them well. The list also has quite a European flavor;
the Kendricks are from the UK and Gratz is Austrian.

The quarter finals were set from the order of finish in the Swiss
and coincidently matched all former champs against the wanna-bes.
When the last shots had died down, there was an even split between
the two groups with Gratz and Wright holding onto their hope
for a repeat and Emery (Kevin, not his famous dad) and Spaner
set to challenge for the Final round. Once again champions
were matched against newbies. Gratz's Germans assaulted
Emery's Russian fortification (Scenario C) and Wright's American
patrol met Spaner's Germans (Scenario A). The games ran
very close but both ended in wins for the German squads as the
trend to have half the field as former champions held to the
end with Gratz holding up the fortunes of both the former winners
and the Europeans while Spaner carried the flag for the unchristened.

The Final was contested in City Fight (Scenario B). Gratz
selected the Germans and Spaner the Russians to bring a reminder
of Stalingrad to the table. There being no beneficial
terrain at the start, Jeff tried movement and ran into wire.
Gratz was also aggressive but was fortunate to find some buildings.
The first deck ended with the Germans slightly ahead. Both
players continued to move in the second deck. One of Jeff's
groups ran into difficulty and the others found it nearly impossible
to entrench when they couldn't reach buildings but, as more than
compensation, he managed to knockout Herbert's squad leader with
a well timed Black 6 check. This ended Deck 2 with the
advantage now held by the Russians and the Germans flirting with
a card loss from lack of leadership even though the relative
range had closed to 3 and the Germans had the victory point lead
with more men in better buildings.

The start of Deck 3 was no kinder to Herbert. Another (un)fortunate
shot killed his ASL and he was placed at a permanent disadvantage
with a four-card hand. He also lost the ability to transfer
men, a tactic he was using to good advantage in the second deck
to waste cards when he had a point lead and the onus of forcing
action was on Jeff. Jeff continued to chip away at the
German squad and the lack of cards Herbert was able to move through
his hand made it difficult to close out the game even with a
slight advantage in points. Eventually the Russian firepower
superiority made itself felt and enough Germans fell to reduce
their squad past the breaking point with only a third of the
deck to go. Up Front 2009 crowned a new
champion, Jeff Spaner. The battle was certainly closely
fought with both sides having opportunities to take the win but,
as in the real contest, Russian manpower eventually wore away
the early German superiority.

There were many positives in this year's tournament. First,
our numbers held steady. Second, with seven returning champions,
the core group is solid. Third, there are new (and young)
faces coming up to not just participate, but to challenge the
veterans. And last, but probably more important, there
is a wealth of data on past games to ensure that relatively even
matches will happen, resulting in close contests that are not
only entertaining, but even. We hope these things allow
us to keep Up Front as a strong and viable tournament
in the future.